Q: My 2 and a half year old son is suffering from cold and cough for the past two weeks. The doctor prescribed codroxil and taxim syrup 5 ml to be given thrice a day. Blood test report for esnophil is 4. There is no relief. In fact its worse now and he vomits after coughing.

A:Most of the cough & cold in children is due to viral infection and would take about 5-6 days to subside. In many cases, some cough might persist for a variable duration of time. Vomiting often occurs in small children with coughing and need not worry you too much. Antibiotics offer little help in these cases and cough syrups can also not remove the infection. They can help, to some extent, in suppressing the symptoms till the body can get rid of the infection. In case of your child, if he has developed fever, fast breathing or difficulty in breathing, he should be reassessed by a paediatrician. If, however, the child has none of these, has a good appetite and is playful, give him a few more days for symptoms to gradually subside. If that does not happen, a repeat consultation is called for.